There’s one feature that Windows 10 has that you need to know about which is called WiFi Sense. Unless you opt out, it will share an encrypted version of your Wi-Fi network password with any contacts you may have listed in Outlook and Skype. The exception being Facebook friends which require an opt-in. The end result is that if one of your friends comes anywhere near your network and you’re using this feature, they can automatically connect to your network.
Here’s my concern. Microsoft does say that your contacts will only be able to share your network access, and that Wi-Fi Sense will block those users from accessing any other shared resources on your network, including computers, file shares or other devices. However, a skilled hacker is going to find some way to make all of that invalid and then they pwn your network and anything on it. But there’s more. This feature, if you want to call it that, integrates with Google Maps by letting Google index the location of your WiFi Network.
Holy lack of privacy Batman!
Microsoft’s solution, if you want to call it that, requires you to change the name of their Wi-Fi network to include the text “_optout” somewhere in the network name (for example, “oldnetworknamehere_optout”). If you want to opt out of having Google index the location of your network, you need to add “_nomap”. But it appears that according to this article you may not be able to do both which is a #fail.
Now, those among you will note that the Microsoft article on WiFi Sense is for Windows Phone 8.x. I linked that article because it’s the only one out there that explains the feature. Plus this illustrates that this is not a new feature. It was less of a concern because Windows Phone basically has no market share. Now that Microsoft has put it into Windows 10, it’s a security nightmare waiting to happen. Microsoft really needs to rethink this and do something about it as this is something that they will live to regret.
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This entry was posted on July 29, 2015 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Windows 10 Shares Your WiFi Access With Your Contacts…. WTF?
There’s one feature that Windows 10 has that you need to know about which is called WiFi Sense. Unless you opt out, it will share an encrypted version of your Wi-Fi network password with any contacts you may have listed in Outlook and Skype. The exception being Facebook friends which require an opt-in. The end result is that if one of your friends comes anywhere near your network and you’re using this feature, they can automatically connect to your network.
Here’s my concern. Microsoft does say that your contacts will only be able to share your network access, and that Wi-Fi Sense will block those users from accessing any other shared resources on your network, including computers, file shares or other devices. However, a skilled hacker is going to find some way to make all of that invalid and then they pwn your network and anything on it. But there’s more. This feature, if you want to call it that, integrates with Google Maps by letting Google index the location of your WiFi Network.
Holy lack of privacy Batman!
Microsoft’s solution, if you want to call it that, requires you to change the name of their Wi-Fi network to include the text “_optout” somewhere in the network name (for example, “oldnetworknamehere_optout”). If you want to opt out of having Google index the location of your network, you need to add “_nomap”. But it appears that according to this article you may not be able to do both which is a #fail.
Now, those among you will note that the Microsoft article on WiFi Sense is for Windows Phone 8.x. I linked that article because it’s the only one out there that explains the feature. Plus this illustrates that this is not a new feature. It was less of a concern because Windows Phone basically has no market share. Now that Microsoft has put it into Windows 10, it’s a security nightmare waiting to happen. Microsoft really needs to rethink this and do something about it as this is something that they will live to regret.
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This entry was posted on July 29, 2015 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Microsoft, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.